F1: Bottas Wins Russian GP As Hamilton Fails To Equal Schumacher's Record At Sochi 

Lewis Hamilton's quest to equal Michael Schumacher's record of 91 race wins was spoiled by Valtteri Bottas as the Brit was handed a handed two 5-second penalties for breaking pre-race instructions in relation to practicing starts. Hamilton who had qualified in pole position was handed the penalty which resulted in both Bottas and Verstappen being promoted while he dropped all the way down to 11th. The driver then went about to execute a great recovery drive which allowed him to finish in P3 behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Also Read: F1: Hamilton Takes Pole Position In Russian GP, Verstappen Starts Second

Bottas won his second race of the season

At the start, Bottas managed to overtake Verstappen who had qualified ahead of him. And this pretty much-remained the status quo throughout the race. Racing Point driver Sergio Perez managed to finish 4th followed by Renault's Daniel Ricciardo in P5.

Surprisingly Ferrari's Charles Leclerc managed to finish in 6th despite the weak performance of the Ferrari car which just managed to qualify in 11th. Leclerc managed to split the Renault cars with Ricciardo's teammate Esteban Ocon managing P7. This was perhaps the drive of the race. Eight and ninth positions were captured by the AlphTauri duo with Daniil Kvyat coming P8 followed by Pierre Gasly in P9.

Red Bull's Alex Albon managed just P10 while the Ferrari powered Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi finished in P11 ahead of the four other Ferrari powered cars. Kevin Magnussen in the Haas managed P12, while Sebastian Vettel in the works Ferrari struggled again to just manage P13 followed by his former teammate Kimi Raikkonen in Alfa Romeo in P14. Romain Grosjean in the Haas was the second last car on the grid at P17. George Russell in the Williams was again last beaten by his teammate Nicholas Latifi.

Lando Norris in the McLaren also struggled and just managed P15. His teammate and future Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr did even worse as he crashed out of the race at the start. Along with him, Racing Point's Lance Stroll was the other car to not finish the race. He also crashed at the start.

Hamilton's race was ruined by two 5 second penalties

At the start of the race, Hamilton was under investigation for having practiced race starts outside of the designated area, not once but twice. When the race started, Hamilton got off to a great start but his race was ruined when the stewards handed him two 5 second penalties which the Mercedes team took within a couple of laps of the ruling in one go.

Lewis Hamilton still leads the championship but this win has allowed Bottas to close the gap on his teammate. Hamilton is on 90 race wins and is just one away from equaling Michael Schumacher's all-time record. It seems like this may now happen at Mercedes' home track -- the Nurburgring, which makes a surprise return to F1 calendar this year thanks to the pandemic.

Russian GP Results:

1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +7.729s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +22.729s
4 Sergio Perez Racing Point +30.558s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault +47.267s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +61.635s
7 Esteban Ocon Renault +66.352s
8 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri +66.777s
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +89.307s
10 Alex Albon Red Bull +92.474s
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1 LAP
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 LAP
13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1 LAP
14 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1 LAP
15 Lando Norris McLaren 1 LAP
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1 LAP
17 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 LAP
18 George Russell Williams 1 LAP

Did Not Finish

Carlos Sainz McLaren crash lap 1
Lance Stroll Racing Point crash lap 1